The Pillowman (枕頭先生)

WOW! I was totally blown away last evening by the performance of The Pillowman. The script was fantastic and the actors were at their very best. The twist and turns in the play, the dark humour and the wonderful acting really made it an enjoyable evening! If I have any company, I would surely go again but I guess the best seats in the house are all gone by now.

The cast was wonderful and kudos to Michael Corbidge for winning the Best Supporting Actor at this year ST Life's Theatre Awards. Michael was my lecturer during my undergraduate days while I was attending his voice studies module.

Although I attended the show alone, I was still totally enthralled by the performance and the lacking of a partner did not bother me at all.

For those who think that theatre plays are only for the snooty kind, think again. Fork out some money and attend The Pillowman. You will then realise what you have been missing for so long and end up feeling that you have underpaid for such wonderful performance. Trust me on this.

Going For A Play

Ooooooh! I am so excited. After so long, I am finally going for a play again. The last time I went for a play was last year, when I attended SRT's A Midsummer's Night Dream. Tonight I am going for another SRT's production, The Pillowman. NO, I am not bious towards SRT, just that they happened to be performing plays I am interested in. I wonder if the person who accompanied for the play last year will turn up today or not. Hmmmm......

Upcoming Changes?

I have been formally offered a position in a line of work that will affect many when I take up the posting. I have been thinking of going into this line for some time but was not successful on my previous application. Now that I have agreed in principal to take up the position in principal, all that matters is the formalities of signing the contract.

I have worked up a pretty healthy working relationship with my colleagues from other departments and my vendors and for them, it would be engineer no.7 in 30 months when my take over comes in. When I do finally leave, I hope to leave on amicable terms.

2 years after I left the Yunnan Gardens campus, I will soon return. But this time, I am on the other side of the bridge.

Paying My Respects

The annual Qing Ming festival has arrived and I went to pay my respects to my maternal granparents this morning. It is not the exact dat as the actual date falls on 4 April but my family brought forward the paying of respects so as to accomodate each other's time. Ah well......

Again the subject was broached while we were having lunch after the visit to the columbarium, "When are you going to settle down?" Hahaha. That is the price for being a guy in this family. All the gals are already well attached or married. The guys......well.....except for one cousin who frequently changes his girlfriend, the rest of us have yet to be successful in our attempts. Not that we never made any effort, just that no one is receptive at the moment.

曾經有一段最真摯的愛情擺在我面前
但我沒有去珍惜
等到失去後才後悔莫及
塵世間最痛苦的事莫過於此
如果上天能給我一個機會從來一次
我會對那女孩說 我愛妳
如果非要把這份愛加上一個期限
我希望是一萬年

Random SMS?

Received an SMS last evening on a certain news I have been waiting for. No, it has nothing to do with the female of the species, not that I am not waiting for those either. Checked my email as it said but I did not receive the email as the SMS claimed. Hmmm......well......guess I have to wait till Monday to confirm it again then. If it is true, will I uproot myself then?

Walking Wounded

Injured my foot during Monday's training at camp. However, I did not really feel it till the next day while on my way to work. Every step came with a bone jarring pain and I was practically limping throughout the week. On Tuesday, the plant suffered a power dip and, after a collective scream of explicitives from everyone in the office, I had to rush into the cleanroom area to check on my machines, hoping really hard that no wafers were affected among my machines. Afterall, I have the most machines among all the engineers. I have 23 machines compared to the next engineer who has 7.

Sadly, before my foot could recover fully, I had to return to camp again on Wednesday for another training session. After this session, I could barely walk. When I returned to work yesterday, I was at my desk almost throughout the day, except when duty or nature calls. It was so bad, I forgoed lunch so as to allow my foot to have a proper rest. Today's public holiday couldn't have come at a better time. Ahhhhhhhh!

Open Book Reading

Was having a meal with a confidant from days long gone recently. It has been sometime since we caught up and we updated each other about our ongoings. Life is treating her well, married with a loving husband and a successful career. Hey, what more can you ask for? Kids maybe? Hahaha.

While we were chatting, she mentioned that my recent moods couldn't have been due to work. Having known each other for all our lives, I can't really fault her on her observations. When you know each other so well, you can practically read each other like an open book. Sigh.

In her words, "The Alvin I know can never be bogged down by work or any other issues. You are too good at handling work stress. YOU don't even feel it! In fact, nothing ever gets you down. Except. The female of the species......Just when I thought you are able to take care of you life, you go bang you head on the wall with another one again!"

Haha. She got it so right! Thing is....... there ain't anyone at the moment! Hahaha. Ah well.

I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a f*** about you and I
And so this is goodbye

Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you,
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference,
It even makes a difference to try
And you told me how you're feeling
But I don't believe it's true
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
So this is goodbye
Excerpt from Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder"

Late night at work

Was working late last night to support my guys in the line as I had some special issues for them to attend to. When I was abot to leave, one of my machines konked out on me! Ahhhhhh! I checked all the power supply and connections but found no missing power. Thankfully the machine was undergoing seasoning and was not in full production mode yet, else it would have been one big mess to clean up! Try as I might, I could not locate the faulty component, and my body soon creaked for rest as it was already 3am and I was still at work. YAWN! Ah well, unwanted man like me have no life.

Food Poisoning at work

A plate of rice with curry sauce, some fried chicken, some sweet & sour fisha and some lemon fish with ginger, was what I had for lunch on Wednesday afternoon. Sadly, on that day, many other fellow colleagues were also hit by food poisoning too. Me? I puked my guts out on the bus while on my way home after my exercise seeion at the army camp. Thankfully I had a plastic bag in my bag, else I would have made a great big mess in the bus.

I was feeling so week and lousy on Thursday that I did not eat at all. When I did finally get some food into me by today, I was saying that it ain't safe to eat at the staff canteen. The company conducted an investigation and although no conclusive findings have been found yet, it is suspected the water source might have been the culprit.

As such, they sealed off all water dispensers and distributed bottled water to the staff. However, each staff were restricted to 3 bottles of water only. Alas, with my physique which has a capacity of a 12 litre engine, how can a mere 1.5l of water suffice? This sure is a time when water is more precious than gold. Hahahaha!

Work-calls

Arggg. I hate having to troubleshoot work issues over the phone. Sigh. I should have expected this to occur after I joined the company but I do not like it one bit. I am not paid enough to handle phonecalls from work on weekends! It is no different from stupid recalls of NS.

This job is starting to wear me down. Even with the constant OTs from my previous job, I do not feel as tired as what I am doing now. Do I want to stay on or should I start searching? Hmmm......

Discrimination Towards Teachers

Those who can, work
Those who can't, teach.

Sigh, I feel that this discrimination towards teachers is wrong. Many of them sacrifice much of their personal time to help their students and to find ways to improve the lessons. The challenge that teachers face nowsadays are not from the students but from the parents of the students. With the overwhelming paper chase in singapore, it has resulted in parents blaming the teachers when their kids are not performing and not reflecting on why their kids do not perform.

Aching body

Argggg! My body aches from my exertions at my IPPT Preparation Training. Sigh. I can swim for 4 hours and I can cycle around Singapore non-stop and I will never ache like this. However, just a simple 2.4km run and my body is screaming for help! Hahahaha!

In a way, this IPT can help me to lose some weight too. Need to lose the flab so that I do not need to buy new jeans. Not because I want to look good. Why? Because I am not good looking even when I was at my slimmest, so looks to be is useless.

When Will The Trip Happend?

Ever since I returned from my graduation trip to New Zealand 2 years ago, I have been planning to make a return there one of these days. Plans have been made over the past 2 years but I have never been able to make the trip due mainly to cost. Sigh.

At my previous company, one of my former colleague had graduated from the University of Victoria and we had many conversations about her time there and about my planned trips. She had visited some of the places I want to go and she has places where she wanted to go to. Alas, things are down in the dumps between us and there is no way that a trip with her will materialize.

I do hope that I can finally make the trip by the end of this year. I do not know who will come along with me this time. It is not so much company I am craving for but to have someone to share the cost with me. I plan to drive for my planned trip and it will go a long way to help defray part of the cost with someone to join me, even if the other party cannot drive. However, I am not up to going with people whom I do not know at all. There are many who place ads asking or inviting for companions but for me, I prefer to go with someone I know, than with someone I do not.

A Trip Down Memory Bus

On my way back in the early hours of today when I realise that the bus that I was on is an antique! A bus of this design has not been running for about 10 years. When I looked at the bus vehicle registration number, it was of the bus company's subsidary. This sure bring back memories of days goneby.

When I was small and christmas trees were tall
We used to love while others used to play
Don't ask me why but time has passed us by
Someone else moved in from far away
excerpt from "First of May"